Bankruptcy—A Fresh Start With The Right Lawyer
By Mike OConnor | Published on March 28, 2012 | 0 Comments
Mike O’Connor, a bankruptcy lawyer with Cincinnati firm O’Connor, Mikita & Davidson, says that he sees two types of people who come in looking to declare bankruptcy. The first type is people who know the problem is looming but it hasn’t arrived yet. With this group, O’Connor says that it’s much easier to prevent the loss of your home or garnishment of wages. “If you can plan your bankruptcy, if you take some time to think about it, you can work through it in a logical way, you can keep your creditors at bay, you can keep garnishments, lawsuits or foreclosures from being filed.” In a perfect world, you know the problem exists and you can make a plan about how you’re going to deal with it.
The second type of people who come to see O’Connor regarding bankruptcy are people who have ignored the problem for so long that their world is falling apart. “They’ve stuck their head in the sand and now the tsunami is hitting—their marriage is going to hell, their house is going down the tubes, their car got repossessed, it’s a disaster,” says O’Connor. But even in this dire situation, he and his firm are able to stop that process and begin to repair their clients’ lives.
So whichever situation describes you, filing for bankruptcy in Cincinnati offers a way to start over. It’s a concept that the law provides for people in this situation—if you mess up and get in over your head, you can get a fresh start through the bankruptcy process. But if you are considering filing for bankruptcy in Cincinnati, hiring a lawyer is key to succeeding in making your fresh start.
Bankruptcy is a very complicated field of law, so much so that O’Connor says, “when the law changed back in ’05, even a lot of attorneys bailed out of the process.” And if you try to go it alone, worse things can happen than just being denied bankruptcy. Cincinnati lawyer O’Connor says that the major penalty, depending on how the case is dismissed, is that you could lose the ability to ever discharge your debts in the future. Bankruptcy is a much more adversarial process than many people believe because the bankruptcy trustee is looking out for the entire bankruptcy estate and is not necessarily looking out for you, as the debtor. “A lot of people go in there thinking everyone’s on their side,” says O’Connor, “but it’s not really constructed that way, you need an advocate on your side in those situations.”
If you’re overwhelmed by debt and looking for a way out, contacting a local lawyer may be your best bet. A lawyer like O’Connor will be able to help determine whether you’re eligible to file for a chapter 7 “liquidation bankruptcy” or are only able to file for the longer commitment of a chapter 13. “There are certain qualifications you have to meet and make fit into certain boxes,” says O’Connor, and during your consultation, your Cincinnati bankruptcy lawyer will help answer the question of whether or not you fit into one of those boxes.
Cincinnati, OH 70163
*Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.